Friday, April 15, 2016

Reading Melvin Rhodes' Blog: Part 1

Recently Ambassador Watch
mentioned the blog of UCG's Melvin Rhodes. Rhodes originally came from Britain and
now resides in the United States. Let's take a look at what Rhodes has
said on his blog in March and April.

In
my opinion the blog's message can be summed up in the following words,
"The Muslims are coming! Restrict immigration of Muslims now."

Rhodes
constantly complains that Muslims are allowed to immigrate to the
United States. At times he cites the Immigration Act of 1965 and
constantly associates that legislation with Senator Ted Kennedy.

March 1

Here Rhodes complains that there are too many Muslims in the United States.

So it should not have come as a surprise that, seven years later, the
country elected its first president with a Muslim name and definite
Muslim connections.

The name Hussein is derived from Arabic. With talk like this it is no wonder why some incorrectly says Obama is a Muslim.

The Obama Administration is staffed by a number of Muslims. ... It’s
no wonder they are panicked at the thought of Donald Trump and his
promise to suspend Islamic immigration.

What about the other Muslims who have no such connections to the Obama Administration?

The media will now follow with programs to show just how it was Islam,
not protestant Europeans, that gave birth to this land and made it the
most prosperous country in the world.

Where did Rhodes get this idea? It is not going to happen.

Fifteen years after James Town, the English settlers had less of a
presence on American soil than Muslims do today, less than 15 years
after 9-11.

This is a false equivalence. Why is the
establishment of Jamestown equated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks
anyway? Furthermore there were more Muslims in the United States before
9/11 than Europeans in what is now the United States in 1622. This is a
false equivalence.

And so we see the progressive spread of Islam into western
democracies. Instead of embracing freedom, they will spread their
pernicious religion, which means “submission” or “surrender,” the exact
opposite of what America was.
Our children and our grandchildren will never forgive us!

This fails to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. All Muslims are vilified. This is wrong.

As the US has turned against Israel,

Wrong.
Relations are quite close between the United States and the State of
Israel regardless of the personnel relations between Obama and
Netanyahu. The US pays 20% of Israel's military expenditure.

March 7

Here Rhodes discusses meeting with a campaigner for Bernie Sanders.

March 11

This post is entitled "Donald Trump and Islam."

Donald Trump’s statement that “Islam hates us” has been roundly condemned by other presidential candidates and by the media.
But, what if he’s right? What if Islam does hate the West?

It
is incorrect to view as Islam as one thing. Islam is a religion not
a singular political movement. We often say, There over one billion
Muslims. But religiously speaking there is a wide diversity of opinion
and traditions among various Muslims. Politically speaking there are
many different nation
states, each nation states have differing factions within them.
Politically we need to learn about and then assess what to do about the
various political actors that we wish to address. It is incorrect to
describe Islam as though it were a singular political actor.

Not for the first time, Mr. Trump has raised an issue that needed to be
raised. He warns of Islam threatening the United States. Some voices
in Europe are raising similar fears, following the Paris attacks and the
migrant crisis. Calls for restrictions on immigration are greeted
with voluble cries of “racist.” Both President Obama and presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton have said it’s “un-American” for the country
to discriminate against Islamic immigrants. They clearly do not know
much history – before 1965 the US openly discriminated.

Is Rhodes suggesting such discrimination should be reinstated?

Rhodes then scare mongers that some sort of Great Depression might soon occur as Armstrongism has done since the 1930s.

One final question needs to be considered: The United States and
western Europe have not had a 1930’s style Depression in the fifty years
of mass immigration. When another one comes, which it surely will,
will the multicultural paradise envisioned by Mr. Obama, the Clintons,
the Kennedys and others, hold, or will we see friction between the
various ethnic groups, the kind of conflict that has led to so much
upheaval in other parts of the world?

March 17

Here Rhodes quotes an acquaintance of his from Australia.

I thought readers might appreciate the following from a friend in Australia:
“Your presidential race is fascinating yet depressing. Away from
America, nobody, and I mean just about no one, can believe that
Americans would support such a demagogue as Trump and all he stands for.
To say they like him because he speaks his mind and refuses to be PC
is just inane. Look at the type of person he is. I would really fear
for America, and more so the world, with a clown like him in charge.
It is positively sickening.
Bernie Sanders sounds like maybe a nice guy but a bit out of touch. I
don’t think America could work his way. So Hilary . . . there are
skeletons in the closet so to speak but at least she has experience and
did quite a reasonable job of it. I think much of America still lives
in the Teddy Roosevelt era in outlook . . . with little knowledge of the
outside world and sort of contempt for it.”

Rhodes
speculates that if Trump became President relations with the European
nations will deteriorate. He blames Democratic Party politicians as
well.

It’s difficult to imagine the Atlantic alliance holding together if
Trump wins the election; having said that, the Democrats have not done
any better.

March 22

Here Rhodes condemn Muslims again.

More
Muslims = more terrorism! That’s because a certain percentage will be
extremists. ... Dealing with the problem requires a major change in
immigration
policies. That’s not going to come from most western politicians, who
are still influenced by liberal 1960’s thinking that says all peoples
are the same and can all mix together peaceably.

If
immigration is restricted many people who had nothing to do with
extremism will be adversely affected. This fails to distinguish between
the innocent and the guilty.

Another interesting development today is how quickly the bombers were
identified as ISIS by the Belgian authorities. ISIS later claimed
responsibility. Normally, following an attack in the US or the UK, we
are told not to blame Islamists, or that there is no evidence this was
terrorism. Some are still in denial, but others are waking up!

I
suspect he is wrong on this matter. Rather after events like this occur
the authorities often encourage the people not to lash out at random
Muslims because they do not want innocent people to suffer because of
criminal acts.

More attacks will follow. It will take Europe some time to fully wake
up. But it will come. It’s either that or we will witness the fall of
western civilization!

Western civilization is not going to fall anytime soon. This is an irrational fear.

Here
Rhodes discussed ISIL's terrorist attack in Brussels in which 34
innocent people were murdered and the terrorist attack in Lahore by a
faction of the Taliban against Christians. He connects these criminal
acts with immigration. This unfairly conflates the terrorists of ISIL
with all Muslims and fails to distinguish between the innocent and the
guilty.

Faced with the prospect of more terrorism in the years to come, each
attack ratcheting up the intensity and the carnage, an anti-immigrant
rally was held in Brussels on Sunday. The rally was quickly condemned
as being made up of “hooligans,” “right wing thugs,” “racists” and
“neo-Nazis.” None of their concerns was addressed.

Older people know that the West as it is now is the direct result of
more than five decades of liberal and leftist thinking that has created
the multicultural, mixed race, mixed religions, environment we are now
living in. It’s a disaster. Yet the creators of this mess insist on
more of the same.

Rhodes proclaims that the two religions cannot mix.

It’s glaringly obvious to a growing number of people that these two religions cannot mix.

What
does this mean? No one proposed merging the two religions. So he seems
to be saying that if there are too many (non-white) Muslims among us bad
things will happen. Again we must distinguish between the innocent and
the guilty. It is wrong to blame a whole community for the acts of a
criminal conspiracy.

April 5

Here Rhodes scare mongers that
there are two thousands mosques in the United States, seemingly ignoring
the fact that the United States is a big place.

In the same week that the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party called on
the country to close all mosques, it was disclosed that the United
States has 2,000 mosques, with one now opening each week. Many
European countries are finding that Muslim young people, educated in the
mosques, are learning extremism from local imams. Many of the
religious leaders are sent from Saudi Arabia and are members of the
Wahaabi sect of Islam, the most violent form of Sunni Islam.

If You are new please read this

Hand in Hand for Syria

Keep Somalia's Remittances Open

I encourage readers to sign this petition from Oxfam calling upon the U.S. government to let the Somali diaspora continue to send remittance to their loved ones in Somalia.

Moves have been made to shut down such remittances from Somalis in America. Many Somalis need these remittances. The remittances to Somalia are larger than foreign aid contributions and are a lifeline to these people caught in trouble and turmoil.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.